Colorado—seen as "the" place to ski, the ideal environment to live in, and a source of energy the country needs desperately—is best understood, write the authors of this descriptive and interpretive geography, as part of its regional setting. Water that flows from Colorado's snowfields supplies irrigation water for crops as far away as California. Tourists have a stake in Colorado's environment, as well as its economy. Colorado's vast energy and mineral resources cannot be developed without consideration of the impact on surrounding states. And many aspects of Colorado's future are...